Commenting on Isa 64:6, a common proof-text for “Total Depravity” as well as the false claim good works can never be meritorious, Mark Carrier wrote the following:
Now I encourage you to read it in context. This is Isaiah speaking in a penitent prayer to God, referencing and speaking on behalf of rebellious Israel. This is not God speaking about all of humanity for all time, but rather an emotional plea to God for a rebellious people, a very specific people—the prophet’s contemporaries.
Simply do a biblical word search for “righteous,” “upright,” and even “blameless” to see what you come up with. Regardless of translation, you will find literally hundreds of references to men and women who were considered “righteous” before God apart from Christ—that is, without an “imputed righteousness.” You will likewise find numerous references in the wisdom literature of the righteous commended by God. There is equal consistency in the New Testament. Prior to faith in Christ, Zacharias, Elizabeth, John the Baptist, Joseph the father of Jesus, Simeon, Joseph of Arimathea, and Cornelius were all called “righteous” and were praised for their conduct. This certainly does not mean these people were without sin (see for example Romans 3:9-10); it just means that they lived their lives pleasing to God, striving to adhere to His precepts. Never does God consider this filthy or bad.
In fact, John, the beloved apostle of Jesus’ inner circle, said this in his first epistle:
And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:3-10, emphasis added)
In this single passage we see concurrence with what we have covered thus far. Lawlessness is defined here as sin, (that is, disobedience to Christ’s law), consistent with the passages we discussed in Matthew 7 and 13. We also see that Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil; not just to forgive our sins, but rather to free us from sin—to break the chains and release us from the Law of Sin and Death. Again, one purpose of His atonement was to change us. He was not merely a legal transaction.
However, the passage was here introduced to dispel the myth of imputed righteousness. Jesus did not suffer and die for us to simply accept a hypothetical, spiritual “righteousness” that in actuality never manifests itself in our lives. He came to destroy the works of the devil, so that through Him we would be reborn free from the bondage of sin, and walk in ACTUAL righteousness by the power of the Holy Spirit. John says that he who PRACTICES righteousness IS righteous, not he who simply believes himself to be righteous “in Christ.” In fact, he explicitly says MAKE SURE NO ONE DECEIVES YOU otherwise! Have we accepted the deception of a false “gospel?” John again says that the one who does not practice righteousness is of the devil. This is no symbolic righteousness here; clearly one cannot “practice” something that is not real. This refers to a genuine, lived-out righteousness, the purpose of Christ’s atonement! (Mark Carrier, The Gospel According to Jesus: Unwrapping Centuries of Confusion [Values Driven Publishing, 2010], 17)
One can download this book as a PDF for free here.
I have addressed the issue of soteriology many times on this blog, including Review of Can Our Works Save Us? Refuting Sola Fide (a response to the "God Loves Mormons" Website), this review of a debate between Jeff Holt and Bill McKeever, and An Examination and Critique of the Theological Presuppositions Underlying Reformed Theology.
Another good article one should read is that of Jeremy King, Did Jesus Intend us to Obey Literally What He Taught? (my thanks to Robert Durocher for making me aware of these resources).
With respect to the level of eisegesis Protestants, especially Calvinists, engage in on this topic and many others, one is reminded of the following quote from Martin Luther:
For you are an excellent person, as skilful, clever, and versed in Holy Scripture as a cow in a walnut tree or a sow on a harp.
From Against Hanswurst, pg. 219 of Luther's Works, Vol. 41
